The Eleventh Demon
by Dark Deeds Of Mine
Summary: Fallyn Rai is taken away by the Akatsuki, who claim that she is the Eleven Tails Jinchuuriki. She's their guarantee of success. But there's a problem. She, Pein, and Madara each have different plans. And they may just kill her. PeinOC, rewrite of ET.
1. Murderers Don't Like Split Personalities

**Author's Notes:**

**Okay, this is the rewritten version of the first chapter. I thought it was kind of… Eccentric, odd, and not completely understandable, so… Here it is again. Let's hope it turns out better.**

**Disclaimer: Nothing in the wonderful series that is Naruto belongs to me. This is just a fanfiction where I change everything in that series according to my own views.**

She awoke to her alarm clock, as she did every day during the week. Throwing back the heavy black comforter, she rose ungracefully from the mess of blankets. Trudging across the thick black carpet, she closed herself in the bathroom to shower.

Damp and towel-wrapped, she retrieved her usual jeans, T-shirt, and underclothes from the red dresser before returning to the steamy refuge.

After changing, she dried her shoulder length black hair with a towel and brushed her teeth. Regarding her reflection slightly disdainfully in the mirror, she scanned over the golden tanned skin, skinny but curvy body, and pretty, heart shaped face adorned with full lips, amber eyes with flecks of gray, and her personal favorite (not); her x-shaped scar stretching across her left cheek.

Finished in the bathroom, she slid down the railing of the spiral staircase that led up to her attic room, the only warm room in the airy and dull mansion that belonged to her rich ass of an uncle.

You see, this girl, once called Reena Hayes, lives alone. For her whole life, up until three years ago, when she was sixteen, she lived in a trashy one-story house in the middle of a gang neighborhood in Seattle with her two parents.

Ah, her parents. Drunks, who always seemed to have an amazing array of foreign weapons nearby, always taking out their anger, frustration, and boredom on their poor daughter. Once, after a particularly and oddly light session, she asked, "Why?"

She had been six, and knew no better. This had gotten the two of them extremely angry, and while they lashed her again they answered calmly, "Because we need to tame you. You are a bad little girl, and we need to punish you." She still didn't understand, even today.

But she was saved one day. Her parents, low on funds, had gone to do what they did best; steal. And they were very good at it, too. Their speed was exceptional, their power and skill unbeatable, and they used it to get whatever they wanted for free.

But they got sloppy. After killing a store clerk, they stole the money and ran, too fast for security cameras to see. But instead of using their own weapons, they used a new one; a gun. And with forensics coming along nicely, they were tracked down, taken to court, tried and found guilty for a very long list of murders and robberies, and sentenced to death. At least, that was what she had been told.

Taken to her "Uncle", who was really just some rich guy social services had dumped her on, she was told that she could stay in his mountain mansion in Washington. The man already had five teens, and he didn't want to deal with another, and so she was shipped off. He paid the bills and sent her monthly checks to sustain life.

Public school had always been a terror. Her parents had taken her out once the school nurse started having suspicions in the third grade, claiming that she was going to be homeschooled. That lasted about five minutes. So she had gone to the library as much as she could to escape her home, and taught herself everything she needed to know.

So when she had to be put into high school in her junior year, things didn't go so great. She was either ignored or bullied. But she never really seemed to care. All she wanted was to get through each day so that she could go home and be alone.

Life had been pretty bleak. But there was one thing she was determined to do; go to college. Defy everything her parents had said about being stupid. They had told her she was stupid and crazy, because she would talk to herself. They knew the voices in her head were real, but they never told her.

And so, when she graduated at the top of her class, she did exactly that.

She had always planned on being a writer. Of fantasy, fiction, fairy tales, where she was completely in control of everything that happened. So college it was.

She thought about those things, as she did every morning, as she went about her routine. Once finished, she shouldered her pack and slipped on her Converse, grabbing her favorite trench coat as she left.

The day went by as normal as it always was. She still never talked much, and no one ever talked much to her, so it was always quiet and studious at her little desk.

Finishing her last class of the day, avoiding the groups of hulking football players and the clumps of giggling girls wearing too much of too little, she cut through the buildings to the back of the campus, were she started on the narrow trail up the mountains that hid "her" large home.

Shrugging her trench coat over her shoulders as it started to rain, she slowed down to enjoy the sight of a raining forest. Taking the long path that skirted a ravine to her home, she relished in the sound of the little drops hitting the leaves, making a delightful sound that she adored. Walking precariously close to the edge of the ravine, the water below rushing in a wild roar almost drowned out the short clap of thunder.

She was startled for only a moment, but the sound wasn't anything new and she waited patiently for the next eruption of the bass harmony.

It came again, two sounding within seconds of each other. Soon it became rapid, like the staccato of a drum, which, unlike normal rolls of thunder, was not something she was used to. Glancing up at the sky, she saw that the bright flashes of light that accompanied the deep crackle of power were not to be seen, even as the "thunderclaps" became even more frequent.

She started to doubt if it was thunder at all.

Now it sounded more like…

Footsteps.

Not a moment after her deduction, two black shapes shot out of the dark green foliage, one shoving her viciously to the side of the ravine.

For a moment of pure terror, the woman teetered on the ledge, and while this was happening the two black figures stopped, and she got a brief but good look at them.

Two tall men, one masked and one with silver hair and a large scythe, wearing black cloaks emblazoned with red clouds.

Akatsuki clouds.

That contorted her face into a look more surprised than it was before, but it was soon replaced by a look of fear as she lost the small bit of balance she had left and fell towards the sharp rocks and roiling water.

She reached out towards the pair of men in vain, her hand flailing uselessly in a desperate attempt to save herself. Black hair whipping around her face, she plummeted towards certain demise, and she squinted her eyes shut, accepting her fate.

Then, with a jolt, she was stopped in midair, thick arms wrapping around her torso and the fold of her legs, pulling her towards a barrier- a chest.

She did not open her eyes, instead hoping her savior didn't decide to drop her. The two of them continued to sail down towards the rocks, and she braced herself once again for impact.

Whoever this man was, he was like her parents; landing precisely on the tip of one rock and jumping to the next with inhuman speed, bringing her safely-more or less- to the bank of the stream.

Gently, the man released her, and, with eyes still clenched shut, she stood shakily, taking deep breaths to calm herself down and to prepare herself to face her rescuer… and hoping it wasn't another Akatsuki.

Why, you might ask, would a Naruto fan _not _want to be saved by one from the series? It is simply because if this was another Akatsuki member, then they would have to have a very good reason to have saved her life, for this group of characters were cold-blooded murderers. And she really didn't want anything to do with them, or know why they were here. She was still trying to convince herself that she was hallucinating. Maybe some idiot spiked her water at break?

"Open your eyes," came a deep, demanding voice that resonated in her bones. A voice that made her want to follow his orders.

Cracking one golden eye open, taking in the sight before her, she couldn't help but gape. There, standing right before her, was the Akatsuki leader, the owner of the Sage of Six Paths' eyes, the thoroughly pierced Pein.

"Who are you?" he said, his monotone voice sounding curious, annoyed, and suspicious.

"F-Fallyn," she stuttered in disbelief, unable to keep herself from gaping slightly.

"'Fallyn', hm? Interesting name. Look at me," he commanded, and she snapped her head up to face him, hair abandoning its post of guarding her face, revealing her scar. The orange haired man didn't look surprised at all; in fact, his expression remained passive even as he hit one of the girl's pressure points, causing her to collapse in a jumbled heap on the ground. As he slung her over his shoulder, the other two Akatsuki members landed with a light thump next to him.

Almost abruptly after the pair took in the scene, the tan one hit the silver haired one quite forcefully on the back of his head, glaring at him while insulting the miniscule intelligent capacity in his brain.

"Hidan, you idiot, you could have killed her. Good thing your leader was there to save the whole mission before you could screw it up, as you usually do," he growled in a voice even deeper and more menacing than Pein's.

"What the fuck, Kakuzu? That fucking hurt, you cock-sucking bastard!" yelled Hidan, rubbing the back of his head and scowling at the other man with his purple eyes.

"Enough," said the leader tiredly, having dealt with countless of these kinds of arguments, "It's time to gather the other members. We've found our target."

"That chick?" came Hidan's rude response. Kakuzu's luminescent green and red eyes were staring daggers into the immortal's brain, wishing with all his being that looks could kill.

"Yes, Hidan, this girl is our target. Now, move your ass," sneered Kakuzu, and he and Pein took off simultaneously. Hidan stood for a few more moments in confusion before snapping to attention and taking off yelling after the others.

Dropping the girl onto a couch in the large house Deidara and Tobi had found a while earlier, Pein gathered the rest of the Akatsuki, who were wandering around poking at the interesting and alien contraptions in the kitchen and living room.

"Alright, everyone, in here," he called, and his voice echoed through the high-ceilinged halls. The murderers filed through the doorway and took seats, some leaning against walls around the couch where the woman was still unconscious.

"The hell is this?" said Deidara, staring incredulously at the heap of skinny bones and thin muscle (though, surprisingly, still averagely curvy) that folded into jutting angles of human flesh. "This can't be the all powerful Eleven Tails, un? This little scrap of meat?" There were several murmurs and glances of agreement to his comment.

"Yes, this girl is the Eleven Tails Jinchuuriki," sighed Pein, slightly disappointed as well.

"You're kidding."

"Deidara, you believe I would 'kid'?" said Pein patiently, but still with a warning undertone. The bomb artist wisely chose that moment to shut up.

"Is she gonna wake up any time soon, Leader-sama?" questioned Kisame cautiously, not wanting to provoke his leader as Deidara had already done.

Regarding her with probing gray-purple eyes, he said absentmindedly, "Within the next few moments. We do not know how she has been trained in this odd world, so be prepared." All members tensed, now wary of the seemingly harmless form on the cushions.

A few apprehensive moments later, true to Pein's prediction, she snapped awake, shot straight up into a sitting position, and-

Screamed.

Not because of them; she hadn't even noticed them yet. She screamed because she believed she had had a horrible nightmare where characters from an anime had shoved her over the side of a ravine, then saved her and knocked her out.

Ah, how the mind plays such cruel games.

When she screamed, every tension-coiled member nearly jumped out of his/her skin, and several threw kunai, out of pure instinct. Luckily, at that moment, she laid eyes upon the member in front of her- Zetsu- and promptly fell off the couch in her surprise, avoiding every sharp object that had been hurled at her with the intent of ending her life.

Needless to say, the pillow she had been laying on became a pincushion. Or rather, a knifecushion.

Ha-ha.

"Everyone, STOP!" roared Pein, exactly a moment before a second round of metal weapons were flung in the girl's direction. Everyone paused mid-throw, and stared at their leader with questioning eyes, the hands holding the blades quivering with adrenaline.

"Girl, get up," he commanded, using his normal tone of voice to show her who was in charge.

Looking up at the orange haired man with amber eyes like saucers, she stayed put.

Several of the more emotional members looked worried.

Staring at the girl oddly, their leader repeated, "Get up."

She made no indication of following his order. In fact, her eyes glazed over as if ignoring him.

Seconds away from flinging his own kunai at her, he said again, "_Get. Up._"

She snapped out of whatever daze she had been in, and everything looked a bit more normal- until her eyes lengthened into reptilian slits.

Grinning impishly, she sneered in a voice not quite her own, "But of course, _Leader-sama._"

Rising gracefully off the floor, the girl dawned an aura that made her seem taller than her 5'7".

It was an aura of authority.

And it pissed Pein off.

"Whoa there, the fuck is this?" interrupted Hidan before Pein could deliver 'divine judgment'. "The bitch is getting a cloak."

Sure enough, a smoky, thin, barely noticeable layer of moving energy had settled around her curvy figure like a cloud. As the shade of the cloak got darker, her golden eyes started to glow, and one could vaguely see her smirking.

As it got increasingly thicker (most of the Akatsuki were standing slightly dumbstruck, and not interfering with her… episode), a voice that seemed to echo out of the smoky mist said, "_I've been waiting for you, Akatsuki Pein. Waiting for a very long time. Nineteen years, to be exact. Took your leisurely time, hm_?" The voice, smooth and yet sharp at the same time, like obsidian, was laced with bitter poison.

Pein, who hadn't seemed to have lost his composure for one moment, regarded the living black mass before him. "Eleven Tails?"

"_Who else could it _possibly _be?_" hissed the smoke, the girl's eyes glowing like honey-colored coals.

"Speaking through your Jinchuuriki, hmm? Interesting." His face, as well as his tone, was completely devoid of emotions.

The golden eyes narrowed. "_Interesting? Do you try to be aggravating? I've waited _years _to go back to that dimension, out of this filthy world. And you come here, and insult me? I'll kill you."_

A slight flicker of amusement flitted across his face, but it was soon gone. "No."

A low growl emitted from the cloud. The rest of the Akatsuki, free of their frozen stances, glanced at Pein, and then left their leader to do the business alone.

"_Do not insult me again, insolent human."_

"I am no human. I am God."

An exasperated sigh sent a puff of chakra out, where it dissipated into the air.

"_I will not argue about such trivial things as a god-complex. I want to go back. You'll take me, yes?"_

"Excuse me, but the Akatsuki is not here to rescue you for your own personal interests. We came here for you, yes, but we're not convenient transportation." His tone had a dark edge to it.

The black cloud began to ebb, pulling back into its center like a kind of implosion. The last words that were said were "_Took too much time out. Deal with her until I can speak again."_ Then the remainder of thick black smoke disappeared into the girl's skin, and she collapsed, like a demon had been exorcised _into _her.

Pein sighed heavily. That conversation hadn't really gotten him far.

His glance swept the room filled with all its oddities, and wavered over the crumpled form of the Jinchuuriki.

No one was remotely near the room, all trying to avoid an aggravated demon. Feeling it was safe, he knelt down next to her and brushed the hair from the scar-adorned cheek, tracing the angry white tissues.

"Such a burden you hold, Eleven Tails Jinchuuriki. Such a burden you have held, for so long, alone. You will soon be free from this horrible life that you have endured for so long," he said softly, painted fingernails lingering on the disfigured mark.

She stirred in her unconsciousness, a troubled expression plastered on her features.

In a moment of pure pity, he lifted her back onto the couch and exited the room.

**Ending Notes:**

**I put that last scene in on impulse. It just seemed… Necessary. And it fit. He was acting like a god, yes?**

**Anyways, chapter one is finished, and I have to say… I much prefer this one over the first.**


	2. Answers Only Lead to New Questions

**Author's Notes:**

**Okay, second chapter. Now I'm kinda debating rewriting more…**

**Disclaimer: Naruto, no matter how desperately I wish, still does not belong to me.**

"_Fallyn."_

The area was dark and foreboding, covered with thick grayish mist, circles of golden light that resembled street lamps moving around her as if being carried.

"_Fallyn."_

The voice came again. It came from all directions, and Fallyn could not pinpoint its exact location. Spinning around, she scanned the fog, but everything was veiled.

The lights disappeared, leaving her in complete darkness.

She attempted to speak, but her vocal chords seized up.

"_Prepare yourself. You have a long journey ahead of you."_

She opened her moth to cry out as a freezing gust of wind knocked her onto the floor, but only a wet choking noise sputtered out.

Suddenly, the ground beneath her was gone, and she hurtled through nothingness at what seemed like breakneck speeds.

Jerking to a stop, the force of the abrupt halt gave her neck whiplash. She was hovering in midair, directly in front of a pair of large, slitted golden eyes.

"_Nice to see you, girl,_" the eyes said.

"Uh…" was all she could say. _I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming._ The thoughts were intended to be in her head, but she was surprised when the words echoed on unseen surfaces around her, despite the fact that she had never opened her mouth.

"_Ha. How amusing."_

Another strangled cry erupted from her throat.

"_It seems you have problems with your vocal chords. That helps. I don't want you to speak, anyway."_

Fallyn narrowed her eyes.

And was ignored.

"_Ah, how long I've waited for this day. Finally, I will return to my home and rid myself of this filthy, overweight, idiotic world."_

A questioning look.

"_Ah. You don't know yet, I forgot. I am the Eleven Tails Demon Dragon, who, many years ago, was split into many pieces by an individual I do not wish to speak of. My empty form, devoid of power except for the smallest scrap, was put into you. I hope you feel privileged."_

She stared at the eyes with a calculating look. Then rolled her eyes.

The black pupils narrowed, angry. "_You ungrateful girl, do not insult me. I swear, you and Akatsuki Pein will send me over the edge, and I've only spoken with him for such a short time. You, on the other hand, I've spoken to for a while. I have a lot of irritation saved up."_

_The voices?_ thought Fallyn, finally realizing a way to speak. Sure enough, her voice bounded through the air.

The pupils narrowed even farther, until they were paper-thin slivers. _"Hm. You figured that out faster than I expected. I'm glad you're not completely hopeless. You'll need the ample supply of intelligence you have."_

_Bitch,_ thought Fallyn.

Hot wind buffeted her body, bruising the skin.

"_Hmph. Do not reduce my behavior to the disgusting cursing of your pathetic world."_

Fallyn was silent.

"_Much better. Now. I see that you have been watching the series of pictures that portray the 'Naruto dimension'. That's also good. That information will prove useful._

"_The Akatsuki have come to extract me from you for their own purposes. You know the outcome of extraction, yes?"_

Flashes of Gaara raced through her head. His death, and his revival. The Two Tails. Yes, she knew.

A slight inclination of her head.

"_Good. You'll die."_

She winced.

A smirk radiated in the air.

"_Or so you and the Akatsuki believe."_

Fallyn furrowed her brow, not bothering with words.

"_Have fun. And beware Pein."_

The world flashed blinding white-

And Fallyn's eyes snapped open, startling the very man the dragon had just warned her against.

Yanking his hand away from her face, he jumped a good distance back, foreboding eyes glaring darkly at her-

But also with a hint of curiosity.

"Well, nice to see you awake, Jinchuuriki," he said coolly, regarding her with ringed eyes.

His gaze followed her as she dragged herself off the couch and stood, hunched, blinking rapidly.

"Fallyn," she finally said, mumbling into the hand that was rubbing her eyes.

The Rinnegan flickered with question, but she did not see it. "Excuse me?" he said.

"Fallyn," she said, louder, raising her eyes slightly, to his face but not his eyes. "My name."

"And?" he said tone cool, but with an underlying challenge.

In an instant, her golden eyes flashed sharply, and met his blessed orbs head-on, without hesitation. "Use it."

His eyes narrowed dangerously. He took an arrogant step forward, now two feet away from her. The inches between their heights seemed to stretch like miles.

She did not back down.

She would be damned if she did.

The dragon inside her had warned her against this man- parameters were to be established.

Even if he killed her, she would not be submissive.

These thoughts flashed through her mind with a fury she never thought she would have had- Pein used to be her favorite character.

_Used._

Their staring contest continued.

She knew it was no longer about her name.

Now she was in a battle of wills.

"Your behavior surprises me, _Fallyn,_" he said, head moving a couple degrees down, not a drastic movement, but it darkened his eyes menacingly. "For someone saving you from the load you have been forced to carry for so long, you are very ungrateful."

She scowled. "You have no idea the extent of 'load' I have carried, and that demon is the lightest of the things. I have no reason to be grateful to a man that intends to end my life."

It was Pein's turn to scowl. She was questioning, no, _denying _the divine assistance that he was granting her.

Ah, another heathen.

"It seems you have grown so accustomed to your charge to such an extent that you believe that it isn't even there. I congratulate your adaptability. But you'll feel so much more free when you're relieved of your fated duty," he said with a hint of irritation.

She glared darkly at him. "I do not want to listen to your 'God' shit," she growled, pleased to see his eyes tighten irritably. Continuing without hesitation, she snapped out the last few words with poison.

"No god can ever make up for all the shit in this world."

With that, she took a step forward, closing a foot of the distance, an intimidating move.

"And no god can make up all the shit that's happen to me."

Her honey-gold eyes regarded him defiantly, trying to judge a reaction.

The man's face remained impassive, even with the roiling amount of anger bubbling beneath his skin.

Acting on instinct, he grasped her slender neck at speeds too fast for her to see. He pushed her over to a wall, and shoved her none-too-gently into its hard surface. Keeping his hand on her throat, consistently restricting her air supply, he leaned in close to her face.

"A pacifist god tries very hard not to harm the people of the earth, even if they do not believe in them. But to insult a god to its face is an action worthy of divine retribution," he hissed into her ear.

Grimacing at the lack of oxygen but no less defiant, she stared at him dead in his blessed eyes, and…

Spat.

"That… is what I think of your 'pacifist god'," she gasped, delicate hands encircling his large ones in an attempt to pry them a bit farther from her neck.

With barely controlled rage, he wiped his face of her saliva with his other hand. His grip tightened, and she sputtered, eyes clenched shut.

"It is good you will die soon, or else I might have to take extra measures to show you your mistakes," his whispered roughly, and released her.

She stumbled, but did not fall.

"Good luck with the 'dying' thing."

He turned around to face her. "What are you saying now?"

Rubbing at the bruises already forming on her neck, she said, "Oh, nothing. Just a cryptic message that that stupid dragon told me." Turning away, she tried to go towards the exit and away from the murderous man, but, much to her chagrin, her thin shoulders were roughly grabbed and she was brutally spun to face him yet again.

She had to admit, even though she near-squealed every time his face came up on the screen, she was getting sick of it in real life.

"What did the Eleven Tails tell you?" he demanded, holding her less than two inches from his face, staring at her with such intensity that it took a great amount of effort not to recoil.

She opened her mouth uselessly a few times before her voice was functional again. "It said, '_Do you know what will happen to you? You'll die. Or so you and the Akatsuki believe'_. Then I woke up."

He stared at her for a few more moments, then released her, turned abruptly, and left.

She found her legs to have the consistency of gelatin, but started walking anyway. Using the wall as support, she dragged herself up the stairs, not meeting with a single Akatsuki member along the way. To be honest, she was both disappointed and relieved.

A fan's dream, right? The Akatsuki, in flesh and blood, were roaming her house.

The only downside was that they intended to take a demon from her body and kill her.

Maybe not a fan's dream.

She was within sight of the attic door when the first Akatsuki member made himself seen- Tobi.

Madara.

Oh, lovely.

"Oh god, you… What could you _possibly _need?" she said exasperatedly, not even bothering with caution around one of the most impulsive murderers in the organization- besides Hidan. She stopped walking ten feet away from the man- she didn't abandon _all _caution.

"Nice to see you, too, Jinchuuriki. I take it you know who I am?" he muttered in a deep, dark, dangerous voice.

Dangerous ground.

"Um… No?"

"Yes, I believe you do, according to the books inside of your quarters." A menacing glimpse of red eyes.

"Uh… yeah, about that... That's a long, unnecessary story… But…" An arrogant air surrounded her. "Please step away from my door. I need to… Die. Yes. I need to die. Before you bastards can kill me," she said sarcastically, gesturing with her hand.

He made no move.

Nothing less than she expected.

"Can I not at least be allowed into my own room?" she sighed, shaking her head.

Silence.

She stared into the one whole in the swirled orange mask.

Well, she stared until she saw a flash of Sharingan. She wasn't stupid enough to continue.

"It seems someone has been recently irritated," stated the man thoughtfully, a knowing smirk in his voice. He crossed his arms casually and leaned against the door.

"Tch, more than irritated. Now, if you would _kindly _move, maybe I could take to you a bit more civilly later?" she tried, but was not surprised at the answer.

"No. Unless, perhaps, you'd like to talk in your room?"

Hell no.

"Hell no."

"Well then, that's settled. Now, would you like to venture somewhere more private, let's say-"

His eyes flashed.

"-The Nightmare Realm?"

The world flashed yet again- this time black.

Swirling red colors.

A kaleidoscope that made her head hurt.

A barren landscape was spread out before her, with nothing but dark brown sand. She stood a good distance away from Madara, but when he spoke, his voice carried like he was right in front of her.

"Ah, much better."

"Bastard."

The air seized in her throat, and by an unseen force, she was shoved to the floor.

"Ah ah ah," said the man, wagging a mocking finger at her. "Let's play nice, for the time being."

As she clawed at the invisible hand at her throat, he crossed the gap between them. Only when he was within five feet did the force release her.

Oh, how sick she was of being grabbed by the neck. One time was enough.

He lifted her by her shoulders, and another invisible force held- no, trapped- her upright. He circled around her, analyzing what seemed to be every pore of her body.

"What I still don't understand is how perfectly normal you look. Thin, tall build, slightly muscular. Perfectly average." His eyes lifted to her face. "Well, except for those eyes, and that peculiar scar." Reaching out a graceful hand, he traced the white tissues, making her grimace.

"I'll ask- What happened?"

She winced and turned away. "None of your business."

The gentle hand became fierce, and he forcefully pulled her face back to meet his eyes.

"Tell me. I am not without means of torture in this place."

As if to justify his comment, snarling, massive black wolves with menacing Sharingan burst from the ground. Black, thorny vines cracked the earth and crawled and multiplied, dragging and growing towards the pair. Vultures began to circle in the gloomy sky, and an entourage of insects and arachnids, a deep, living black mass, began scurrying and flying to consume her.

Choked by fear, she barely managed to sputter a "Fine."

The creatures were gone in a blink.

Averting her eyes to the desolate ground, she muttered, "My bastard parents liked to play with knives."

"Ah. How unfortunate for you. And to think, you haven't even escaped the worst turn your life will take?"

Her eyes darted up and locked onto his. A twinge of annoyance coursed through her as he smirked.

"I've been acquaintances with that demon of yours for a while now," he said matter-of-factly, "And I know a few things that you probably don't."

A warning signal went off in her head. Probably the demon in question.

"Did you know that the Eleven Tails inside of you has a special curse on it?"

Shock was painted to her features.

"Yes, it's true. This curse renders it unable to be extracted. And, for some reason, only you have it."

"But…" she began, but was cut off.

"Ssh, I'm not done yet. Be polite." The last few words came out as a growl. "You don't need to know too many details, but you won't be dying any time soon."

She sighed in relief, but then sucked in another breath as she realized what would have to happen.

"Oh, oh yes. That means you'll have to stay with the Akatsuki. We're not the only ones looking for you- we're just the ones who got here first."

"No."

"I'm sorry?" he said, a darkly amusing expression silently warning her.

"No, thank you. I believe I'd rather die, if the treatment I'll be getting is anything like it has been in the last hour or so. So please, by all means, kill me now."

There was a pause, and the elder Uchiha turned to face an invisible horizon.

"That's not what I wanted to hear."

A moment of tense silence passed.

"Are you good for your word?" he said suddenly, thoughtfully, breaking the silence.

"Excuse me?"

"Can you uphold a promise?" he restated.

She paused, then said, "I would ask why, but I don't think I would receive an answer. Yes. I can."

He got right in her face, and she could feel his breath. It disgusted her.

"You wouldn't be lying, would you?" he hissed.

Wrinkling her nose and drawing her face away, she said, "No."

Drawing away, he crossed his burly arms over his chest and said contentedly, "Good. Then I will talk with you in a short period of time- there's going to have to be a meeting."

Darkness fell like a veil over her eyes, and she was alone.

Shaking her head and rubbing her temples to suppress an oncoming migraine, she climbed the spiral stairs to go to bed.

"She does not wish to join the Akatsuki," said Madara, examining the books on the wall.

Pein stopped his scribbling onto a scroll and looked up sharply. "What do you mean?" he demanded, then smartly added, "Madara-sama."

The man glanced over at him, smirking, then returned to his own task. "The demon cannot be taken from her body."

The other man's body tensed, and he put down his brush.

"You are not deceiving me, are you, Madara-sama?" he said softly.

He retorted irritably, "Of course I'm not."

Pein closed his eyes, and responded, "I apologize Madara-sama. Just skeptical. What must we do?"

"Like I said before," he said with renewed patience, "She does not wish to join the Akatsuki , but she must, or she must die. I have a deal to make with her, but I wanted to talk it over."

"Yes?"

"We will take her back to the base, and train her. She is the same age as Deidara, and has no training, so we'll have to start from basics- Ninja Academy basics. Once she is trained, she will battle you- all of you. If she is victorious, we will kill her. If she loses, she becomes a member- and your partner, alongside Konan, so you can watch over her."

Pein digested the thought, mulling it over in his mind.

"Fine."

"Excellent. We'll let her rest for a bit, then leave later. Prepare to depart."

**Ending Notes:**

**Lots of sadism, strangling, and flashes of light in this chapter.**

**Poor, poor Fallyn.**

**Oh, you do know it's pronounced "Fall-in", right?**


	3. Twisted Explanations Cause Frayed Nerves

**Author's Notes:**

**Ever heard Sasori's theme? Despair? So beautiful…**

**Disclaimer: I guess fate is not under my control when it comes to these things, so Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto, not me.**

It was exactly midnight when she woke.

The room was dark and warm, soft light from synthetic candles casting fleeting shadows on the walls.

Propping herself onto an elbow, she looked over at the clock beside her bed- and groaned when she saw the time. Though it took an impossible amount of effort, she threw back the covers, revealing her full clothed self, and sleepily walked down the staircase to get tea for her nightmares.

She was surprised to see lights on down the larger staircase, illuminating the normally dark halls. Immediately she leapt over to the wall, and crept down the stairs with her back facing the sheetrock.

At the bottom of the staircase, her bare feet stuck to the cold tile, and made the faintest _sssh_ noise- luckily, whoever was in the room was far enough away not to hear it.

She dared not peer around the corner and risk being spotted, so she settled for listening.

"Kakuzu, what the fuck? I was sleeping!" scream-whispered a man in the kitchen.

"I know you were sleeping, idiot. You were supposed to keep watch for the girl, not drool all over her kitchen," a gravelly, deep bass voice, Kakuzu, replied irritably.

"I know that! I was! If she came down, I would have known!" the idiot replied.

"Obviously not, Hidan," replied the deep-voiced man, and Fallyn didn't get a step away before thick, pulsing black rope-like strings broke the tile under her and wrapped around her body.

She barely managed a shriek.

Around the corner the two men came, one with half of his arm replaced by the black threads…leading into the ground… and around her. She saw the other half of his arm on her leg.

"Dammit, Kakuzu, I knew she was there!" insisted Hidan, grabbing her shoulders. The other, tall, dark-skinned man's threads crawled off her body and reattached his arm to its rightful place.

"Sure you did, Hidan," he said, rolling his eyes as he left.

"I hate that bastard," muttered Hidan, glaring at the place where he last stood. Turning back to her, he grabbed her neck right as she was beginning to run, upsetting the bruises already there.

"Come here, girlie, you're not leaving yet," he said, grinning, and putting an iron bar of an arm around her shoulders, keeping her tightly in place. "You've got an important appointment with the leader."

She paused her faint struggling, and a grimace pulled back her features. "Fuck," she grumbled, attempting to slip out of his "embrace".

He snickered, clamped on harder, and said, "Yeah, that's what I'd be saying, too."

They walked to the door leading to the basement.

The ceiling above them had let loose a bit of debris as Kakuzu's hand passed through the layer of cement between the two floors.

"I believe," said Pein thoughtfully, "that she is awake."

Sure enough, five minutes later, the basement door was opened and Hidan came dragging her down the stairs.

She was shoved down on the floor in front of the pair, grunting as she caught herself painfully on the scratchy stone floor. There she stayed for the breath of a moment, staring at the ground as if it was alien terrain. Leaning her forehead against the cement, she dragged the rest of her body from the unflattering position to one more comfortable.

Looking as if she were bowing down to the two men, she trembled gently before working up the courage to face what was once a dream now turned nightmare.

The moment she met eyes with Pein, hot, shameful tears began to pour down her face. Embarrassed and agonized, she furiously wiped the salty water from her skin with the heel of her palm. She sputtered a bitter laugh, and looked back up with golden eyes glowing bright.

"You're actually here. I'm not dreaming. Took you long enough. You know how long I've waited for you guys to come? So long I stopped believing it would happen."

Her words were stable but fragile, wavering a bit as the dam the she had built to sustain the flood of her tears creaked as it accommodated its load. The words echoed and died in the air around them, but reverberated in their minds.

Madara, masked as Tobi, stepped forward and snatched her wrist, hauling her up to meet the glare of the one eye glowing a red made of pure animosity. "The nonsense you speak is going to be ignored, in lieu of more important matters than your shattered hopes," he hissed.

The tears rimming her eyes disappeared in an instant, her eyes widening not in a terrified expression, but rather in one that matched his rage.

With an indignant tone that radiated arrogant bravery, she said, "These 'important matters' must only apply as important to you. I don't care about whatever the hell you have to say to me. I'm done dreaming.

"Kill me."

A chill passed over her skin, a thrilling chill that sent adrenaline to the farthest tips of her fingers and toes. A similar tremor wracked through Madara, and only when he wrenched his hands away from her did she realize that her skin was reaching the temperature of boiling water.

A slight veil went over her consciousness, and another person spoke with her words and her mouth, voicing the dark thoughts she would never think of saying. It was like she had been possessed by herself.

"KILL ME!" it shrieked demonically, then dissolved into a fit of maniac giggles. "Kill me~ Kill me~ Can you kill me?" It sang, its voice rising an octave and turning to an insane, jovial voice. "Come on, I know you can do it. Just take a knife," the creature disguised as Fallyn crept over to Pein and snatched a kunai from his pouch, nearly as fast as they could. Holding it to her own neck, she cocked her head and grinned madly. "And put it to my neck. I know you've done it a thousand times before. One more tally won't affect anything, I promise. Come on, come one, just drag it across my neck. Drag it across my neck and listen for the singing of split skin and feel my blood watch it pour down your hands I bet it'll be warm feel it feel it smell it see it hear my screams come on do it do it do it do it DO IT! DO IT NOW!" The words slurred into one long sentence, her voice rising higher and higher in pitch until an unearthly scream ripped through her body. She dropped the knife at the men's feet.

Pein looked mildly disturbed, and Madara's expression couldn't be seen through the swirls of his mask.

She felt it all happen, felt the words rasp through her throat as she screamed, felt the cold iron at the sensitive skin on her neck before she threw it accurately at the ninja's feet, felt pounding in her head as the thoughts and words rushed out quickly, but never quickly enough.

The personas screamed in unison again.

Madara took a half step towards her, extended his arm, and slapped her sharply across her giggling face.

Her cheek immediately smarted, turning blush red, and the veil was sharply tugged back like a stagehand that missed their cue. The moment the other self retreated, Fallyn snapped a mind-door shut and locked it several times with steel hard resolve, throwing the key of weakness over her shoulder.

Looking through her own eyes again, she met the livid and somewhat confused eye-expression of Madara. She opened her mouth to say something, but he held up one gloved finger, taking the voice from her throat.

"I don't want to hear it. Not at all. That won't happen again, yes?" he said in a quietly dangerous tone.

Staring with eyes that held the beautiful glimmer of fear, she nodded vigorously, rattling the other-self in its prison.

"Excellent. Now, let us forget the scene that just occurred." He bent over and slipped the fallen kunai back into his pouch, all evidence of anything now gone.

"We have a proposition for you- one that meets a certain request that you have stated previously." He noted her confused expression, but said nothing to address it, holding to his word. "Now, we need you. You have a demon sealed inside of your body, the Eleven Tailed Demon Dragon. From what little research we have been able to gather, we have found that your demon, because of past occurrences that are not relevant to you, is a vessel that can contain all the Tailed Beasts- even the Ten Tails- and still add to its power.

"But you're more of a guarantee of triumph, guarantee in concrete. Not _completely_necessary. That leads to our deal- we take you back to our world, where you undergo training in Taijutsu only, and learn to contain and control your demon's power- even if that power isn't _exceptionally_ powerful. Once you have achieved this, you will battle Pein- or rather, all the Paths of Pain. If you vanquish them, every last one, you are free to go- to the heavens. You will be killed, to grant your request and also to make sure no one else manages to utilize your initial usefulness.

"If you are defeated, though," he said, his voice taking on a sadistically gleeful edge, "you will be taken as a member of the Akatsuki, to remain faithful. This will be assured by a bomb, courtesy of Deidara- one with an actual detonator, which Pein will have, since you will be his partner, to assure that if you cross sides, you will not live to gain the rewards that may be offered to you.

"You will also always carry a headpiece, so we can communicate if you are captured- in case we assume you have become a traitor, and you need to verify your life is not taken from you.

"I believe this proposition is most helpful to you. And you do not have a choice- this is a deal that agreeing to is mandatory, but the results are beneficial. We leave tomorrow. There will be no questions or debate. Now leave, and pack any belongings that are completely necessary. Do not bother to pack clothing. That will be provided for you."

He stared expectantly at her.

Still attempting to register all the information after her little episode, she stood, dazed. Only when he took a warning step towards her did she sharply snap out of her entranced state and recoil before bolting up the stairs, rats-nest hair shaking behind her.

The men watched her retreat apathetically. When the door at the top of the staircase slammed shut, they turned to face each other.

"Prepare the other members for disembarkment. Gather supplies from here, anything that will get information on the girl, not the demon. That scene was something that can be easily overlooked but not easily forgotten." Madara issued the command quickly and with unmistakable authority. The orange haired man was out of sight the moment the order was finished.

Madara sunk down into a conveniently placed chair, his gloved fingers tapping on the wooden armrests.

"This whole ordeal is going to be more interesting that I thought." He paused, then said in a delicately irritated way, "Zetsu. Come out. I know you've been there. Why are you here, when I did not summon for you yet?" he said, his voice as nonchalant as his face was irate.

"**I****was****here****before****the****girl****came,** and I just wanted to listen in. I apologize if I've offended you, Madara-sama," said the plant-man, rising from the ground like it was simply mud.

"**Gah,****concrete,****"** his black side muttered to himself, and he cracked his spine, letting out a quiet, content groan. The Venus flytrap appendages on his shoulders scraped slightly against the low ceiling.

"Zetsu, though your presence was not called for, at the moment I will look over your disobedience, since you being here saves me the trouble of summoning you. I need you to do something for me…"

Fallyn burst out of the basement door, slamming the wood behind her without a moment's hesitation. She sighed heavily, and slumped down on the floor, her muscles gel where they had once been tightly coiled, ready to spring. It was then that her eyes snapped open, and the full scale of what had taken place in the room she had so hastily escaped from hit her like a sucker punch.

_I have a mental short circuit, and now I'm on board for a demented boot camp whose result either ends with me being violently and brutally murdered because I was too fucking good and musn't be freed or being forced into a twisted form of indentured servitude where escaping triggers immediate detonation._

She did not realize that she had spoken those words in a mumbling sort of half-English language while she thought them.

"What in all of the _hells_are you talking about?" sputtered a very confused and disgruntled Deidara, who was in the process of figuring out the complicated mechanisms of a water dispenser from a refrigerator.

"Ah- Um- I didn't-" she stuttered helplessly, her face the epitome of the accursed "DAMMIT DID I REALLY JUST SAY THAT?" thought process.

"How much of that did you manage to decipher?" she asked meekly, praying to any sort of god that it hadn't been too much.

Apparently, the gods were in favor of her for once.

"I heard 'immediate detonation', which is all I think I cared to hear. Clarification?" he said, his eyes sparkling with destructive glee.

Her demeanor visibly relaxed, and a relieved sigh slipped from her lungs. She didn't exactly know why she felt so apprehensive of him hearing something he was bound to be told anyway- maybe it was because none of her thoughts seemed to be her own, and she wished she could hold on to some glimmer of a secret even for a short amount of time.

That was probably it.

"Try your luck with Pein," she responded bitterly. The blonde's protests were ignored as she trudged up the stairs to reluctantly follow Madara's orders.

Zetsu was awaiting her arrival in her bedroom, a warm, dusty place with a low ceiling that grinded ceaselessly against his flytrap. He was inattentively going through the surplus of books precariously stacked on nearly every available surface. He had already tipped several stacks when he emerged from her floorboards.

"**Dammit,****what****'****s****taking****her****so****long?**" his black side grumbled impatiently, throwing aside another adventure novel.

"I'm sure she's coming soon," the white side comforted, trying to quell his own feelings of impatience.

Sure enough, the small attic door was savagely thrown open as the woman charged through the passageways of books so surely one would be convinced she had built the labyrinth to navigate herself and to make anyone otherwise would get lost amid the near-walls of printer's ink and crinkled paper.

She stopped in her tracks, though, when she came across the toppled towers that Zetsu had destroyed when he had entered her room.

"Who the hell wants to talk _now_?" she hissed through gritted teeth, surveying the tunnels of stories with an accusing eye.

Zetsu carefully maneuvered the paper passages while maintaining silence, which was a feat in and of itself. He made it a few feet behind her before she whirled around and glared at him with an expression that rivaled even Itachi.

"_What__do__you__want?_" she growled, fury stabbing through Zetsu in the form of invisible world shrapnel that buffeted him mercilessly.

All of the sudden, Madara's plan withered, died, and festered in his mind.

_**This**____**is**____**not**____**going**____**to**____**work!**_ thought his black half, giving up hope and preparing to leave when she exploded at him when he voiced his ridiculous request.

"You will tell me in five seconds, or you are thereby banished from this fucking room and I swear on my _life_I will make you _leave_."

"I just want to… talk?" his white half ventured, prepared for a verbal assault.

_**This**____**is**____**the**____**most**____**ridiculous**____**order**____**we**__**'**__**ve**____**been**____**given**____**yet.**____**We**____**barely**____**even**____**talk**____**to**____**Tobi,**____**and**____**Madara**____**wants**____**us**____**to**____**do**____**this**____**bullshit?**_ his black half went on, truly infuriated.

The steam seemed to escape her just a tad, so the white half, encouraged by such a reaction, pressed on. "Um… You see…" he faltered, unable to think of something to say. His black half, mentally rolling his eyes, decided to rescue his counterpart despite the suicidal action it would be. "**This****idiot****wanted****to****see****if****you****were****okay.**"

Her guard cracked a bit, and she cast wary eyes in the white half's direction. He forced himself to smile sheepishly, though the action nauseated him.

"Stop faking."

The fake smile froze on his face.

She rolled her eyes bitterly. "You think I don't know when people lie? Don't even start. And don't act concerned. I can tell when people do that when they're normal, and it's pretty simple to tell that a cannibal wouldn't give a _rat__'__s__ass_about some tool of a girl's feelings."

Though the white half recoiled and was ready to leave, the black half took the opportunity that was beginning to open up.

"**You****seem****so****sour****over****that****kind****of****thing.****Got****some****experience?**" he said, his voice turning as soft and coaxing as silk as he mentally willed her to respond positively.

Quite the opposite.

Her facial expression hardened and withdrew. He had lost her.

"Yeah, I've got experience. Nothing I'm willing to share with a spy that works directly for the man who wants to kidnap, kill or enslave me."

Damn.

"**Actually,****I****think****the****fact****that****I**_**am**___**a****spy****should****be****enough****for****you****to****tell****me**," he said, changing tactics and hoping to ensnare her in his own labyrinth of words.

Her caution wavered, and she eyed him distrustfully. "What do you mean by that?" she said, her words guarded.

Captured.

"**What****I****mean****is,****spies****are****the****best****at****keeping****secrets,****especially****from****their****employers.**"

She hesitated, then muttered, "Yeah right. Whatever. I'll give you the bare-bones basics."

She paused, scrutinizing him incessantly.

"I didn't have the best parents in the entire world. People outside of those situations don't have a clue about what's going on, nor do they give a flying fuck about it. They like to keep things clean, so they don't have those things weighing on their normal little consciousness."

Bare-bones indeed.

"Now leave."

Zetsu mentally swore, but taking this dismissal as one that couldn't be debated, he made his exit. But as he disappeared from her sight, he caught a glimpse of a small, leather-bound book with no title publisher, anything- in fact, it was devoid of markings altogether. Luckily for him, it was on the top of a stack.

Quick as a ninja, he snatched the book from its perch and placed it into the folds of his cloak.

As he left the room, the book weighed heavily on his chest.

"Madara-sama, the preparations have been made. We were unable to find any recording of the girl's past, but we did find this odd square device that had stories and other such information on it." Pein paused, grimaced, then continued, "Hidan managed to spill water onto it, and the information was lost. She also had a satchel with sketches in it." He handed the pad to him, and watched as he flipped through the gray-scratched pages.

"I'll analyze this later. Anything else?"

"Other than books, this girl either has no recording of her personal interests or past, or she has hidden them very well."

"Hm. How irritating."

The two scowled in opposite corners of the room, contemplating their next moves when the cannibal spy surfaced from the depths of the earth.

"Madara-sama-" he began, but was silenced when the man raised his gloved hand.

"Zetsu, what have I said before…?" he began for the umpteenth time.

The plant-man wasted no time in drawing the book from his cloak and presenting it to his master to justify that his interruption hadn't been meaningless.

Glaring at his subordinate for so rudely interrupting his lecture, he snatched the tome from his flytrap-clad underling and indignantly leafed through the pages.

His angry movements stopped abruptly.

Slowly, he raised his head to face Pein and gently tossed him the book.

Cautious, the orange-haired man opened the book to a random page and scanned the words.

"A diary."

"Indeed."

"When was the last entry dated?"

There was a pause, and the sound of pages being ruffled through.

"December 4th."

"What day is it today, in this dimension?"

"December 10th, Madara-sama," Zetsu stated proudly.

The three men looked at one another, triumphant.

"Well, well, this certainly makes things easier."

**Ending Notes:**

**I cleaned out the inbox for my fanfiction email address, and I was both horrified and delighted at how many people had Eleven Tails on their alerts and favorites list.**

**Delighted because there were so many people.**

**Horrified that I hadn't updated the rewrite in two months because of school and laziness.**

**So I sat my procrastinating ass on the computer chair and _typed_.**

**Guys, if there's anyone who actually still reads this (and I wouldn't be surprised if there were only three people, if any), I'M STILL HERE. TRYING. I'M SO SORRY.**


	4. An Endless Wild Goose Chase

**Author's Notes:**

**Alrighty, fourth chapter. Here we go.**

**Disclaimer: If I had a billion dollars, I'd purchase the copyright to Naruto and have Masashi-kun revive all the Akatsuki- or at least make a spinoff. But I don't. And the only way I ever would is if I wrote fifteen international bestsellers.**

**At this point, I am in no position to achieve such an amazing feat.**

Fallyn angrily shoved several more books into her small duffel bag, muttering obscenely about her encounter with the plant man. Dropping her iPod into the bag, she zipped it up forcefully and threw it onto her bed.

To calm herself, she took one last nostalgic walk through her other books, running a loving hand over the bindings of her only friends, reminiscing all the times they comforted her when poisonous memories came flooding back into her mind, when she couldn't keep her tears from falling, when her mental breakdowns were too drastic to control.

These strangers' words were her mothers and fathers, her sisters and brothers, her lovers and rivals.

These strangers' words were her bedtime stories, the goodnight whispers of a younger sibling when they had a nightmare and requested sharing a bed, the warmth of an affectionate embrace. They let her experience scenarios that her social exile had forced her to go without, let her feel the pain of a breakup when she had never been in a relationship in the first place. They let her experience the notion of a functional family, and they gave her friends, brothers, sisters, even nightmares, all which she accepted with open arms.

And now she was being forced to abandon all of her companions.

She dug her nails into her skin, squeezing until the pressure in her mind ebbed away.

Taking note of the crescent-shaped indentations in her flesh, she pulled a long sleeved shirt over her arms. She tugged on some pants and shoes, shouldered her pack, and, with one last longing glance at her previous life, she stepped out of her room.

-X-

Madara smirked into the leather bound tome, rifling through the pages where the emotionally traumatized girl puked up her bitterness, hatred, loneliness, and dry musings.

This was _exactly_ what he had meant by background intel.

He chuckled sinisterly to himself.

Now she was just a doll for him to manipulate.

-X-

Fallyn walked the halls, searching for one of her particularly long, particularly favorite books. She was surprised to find the rooms she visited empty, nothing out of place.

Glancing warily around, she continued to search the stacks.

With her search of the foyer fruitless, she rounded one of the larger stacks with the intent of leaving the room, but she was met with the barrier of a black-cloaked chest.

Hating the fact that most of these men were taller than her good size of 5'7", she craned her head only slightly up, and was met by the purple ringed eyes of Pein.

Startled, she jerked back, knocking over a good-sized pile of books and landing among the sharp cardboard covers and bending thin pages.

Cursing, she made a vain attempt to struggle from amid the books, but she only succeeded in burying herself deeper within the quicksand pages.

The man smirked, and offered a finely built arm. She glared darkly up at him, smothering the fangirl-y instinct to grin like an idiot as she glanced on the flesh-and-blood version of her favorite character.

He raised his orange eyebrows, and emphasized his waiting hand with a small twitch.

Not breaking eye contact, she ignored his gesture, instead opting to stay inside the pile of books to braving the sea of words and making a fool of herself trying to get out of her predicament.

He frowned, and his hand returned to its rightful place at his side.

"What do you want?" she hissed, shifting positions to get more comfortable.

"Just coming to see if you're ready. We're leaving," he replied apathetically.

She gave him an incredulous look, and glanced at a clock on her wall, reading 2:00 AM.

"But it's two in the morning," she said slowly, enunciating every syllable, hoping he would register the absurdity of his comment.

He looked unfazed.

"I'm aware," he said calmly, smirking down at her.

"But… It's _two in the morning_," she said again, shaking her head slightly.

"The time shouldn't be a problem, considering you're already up," he said, a dark underlying tone of amusement stirring the embers of her constantly burning anger.

"Oh, no, I'm not already up; I _never went to sleep._"

He quirked a single vibrant eyebrow, saying in a consoling tone, "Why wouldn't you want to sleep?"

She scowled, and sneered at him, "If you had strange serial killers walking around your house, would _you_ feel comfortable going to sleep?"

Chuckling darkly, he stepped over some fallen book-rubble and pulled her up forcefully from the pile. She struggled and protested to no avail as he hoisted her bag over his shoulder and dragged her down the hall, wasting no time tossing her in the air as he descended down the stairs, and catching her again as she fell.

Waiting in her front yard were all nine fearsome criminals, each standing in a circle over pairs of Summoning Scrolls. Pein dragged her towards the center, where two black and gold-embellished scrolls crossed each other in a grand compilation of black symbols and inscriptions. He unceremoniously dropped her on the thin paper, darted over to his own pair of scrolls, and began a furious string of blurry hand seals.

The other members followed suit, and soon within seconds, all had disappeared without a trace, save for an alienable breeze that whistled through the green leaves.

-X-

Fallyn spun through an endless black void, tumbling head over heels in a never-ending, dizzying circle. While she gained momentum, no sound of wind that usually accompanied a fall was to be heard. There was only a deathly silence- and she realized, as her throat began to dry and burn, that she had been screaming with no sound, too.

While under usual circumstances she would have assumed that she was in some kind of vacuum, the case was quite the opposite. Hurtling through nothingness, without traces of where she was going or where she came from, with no sound or no feeling of another presence, Fallyn found that not a thought crossed her mind as her body pumped useless adrenaline through her veins.

Then, suddenly, she found herself on the floor.

There was no bone-shattering impact, no jarring to a stop, and no gradual expanse of light that forewarned her of a coming exit. She was simply not there, and then there.

Adrenaline leaving her a shaking heap on the floor, Fallyn strained to process her surroundings.

She found herself in a dark room, lit by a single sputtering candle. What faint light it cast illuminated an impossibly uncomfortable looking bed devoid of a blanket and a pillow and a small table set beside it. The walls beside it had an undeterminable pattern that looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't see enough to identify it with certainty.

Once her shudders passed, she dragged herself to a standing position and lumbered over to the candle. With a weak grip, she barely managed to hold the brass handle without allowing the lip of the saucer to dip and dive, spilling wax. Fortifying her grip with another hand, she waved the flame around slowly, spilling faint golden light around the rest of the room.

Other than a trunk at the foot of the bed, there was nothing else inside the room. Cautiously, she made her way through the sparsely furnished bedroom, her shoes tapping faintly on the stone floor.

The door was a pitiful thing, a plywood panel that seemed that it would break at the lightest touch. She gingerly turned a cold brass knob, and ducked through the low frame.

Snake-molded sconces lined the hallways at constant, distant intervals, casting enough light for the simple use of illumination, but not enough to feel comfortable in the sinister hall. Shadows danced in all corners, and they breached the areas where the light from the sconces did not connect, giving Fallyn the feeling of being watched from every darkened section of the passage. Arcing patterns carved into the sand-gold walls continued in a never-ending swirl, dizzying if one moved too fast.

She identified the hallway immediately.

She couldn't fathom how, but she was in Orochimaru's lair.

She dropped the brass saucer holding the wax tower, hot candle liquid splattering and drying instantly on the cold stone floor. Glancing frantically around, she bolted down the passage, her adrenaline returning with a vengeance. Her steps echoed loudly, resonating off of the walls and reverberating in her head, sounding almost like a mocking cackle.

As that though passed her mind, she forced herself to skid to a stop. The clattering of her hurried escape ceased, but the sharp ring of laughter did not.

She whirled around, but only saw a flash of white race past her. She followed its momentum, but nothing was in the passage before her, either.

Then an unpleasant sound scratched along the floor- a noise that made a person shiver, like fingernails running up and down paper.

Like the sound of scales on the grit of the floor.

Fallyn slowly turned her body back to the direction from which she came.

There, slithering in the shadows, the feeble light from the torches shining on their dull scales, was a horde of writhing, squirming snakes, led by a single white sliver of reptile.

She stood, frozen, in a state of utter horror, unable to muster as much as a whimper.

Right as the mass of oily scales were about to converge upon her, she found her strength again, and began to back up, her pace increasing until she was running. She turned back around, and began to sprint down the hall, as far away from the snakes as she could get.

But coming up the other end of the hall, a good fifteen feet before her, was another group of the foul reptilian creatures.

She stopped herself, nearly falling on her face for the momentum that was carried behind her, and whirled around again. Still slithering toward her, the first horde was coming upon her, still quite distant, but gaining speed quickly.

She could see no end to their procession.

Fear strangled her senses, her ears ringing. She whipped her head back and forth between the two imminent groups of flitting tongues, venomous fangs, and reptile armor, only able to watch as the snakes made their way closer and closer to her.

A tiny whisper hissed in her mind, _Why don't you try a hand seal, girl?_

The Eleven Tails.

_What hand seal?_ Fallyn hissed back, moving quickly in the last bit of space she had left.

_Well, I don't know. Why don't you just try one?_

"You don't _know_?" she yelled, incredulous, shaking as the reptiles came increasingly closer and closer.

_JUST TRY ONE!_

She slammed her hands together, imitating a couple of the seals she had observed while watching the show. She felt a swell of heat in her veins, and a jet of blue-black flame erupted from the back of her throat, singeing a good half of one of the knots of reptiles. The rest were startled by the amount of heat and scurried to the corners of the hall, hissing warily.

Unfortunately, the white snake had escaped her fire.

Blanching at the jutsu she had performed, it took her a few moments to start moving again. But once she got started, she knew nothing could stop her.

She flew down the halls in the direction she had come from, turning corners blindly and getting herself lost in the labyrinth of halls.

"This place never ends!" she shouted before she could stop herself, and her voice carried boisterously through the halls.

_Shut up, you stupid girl, _hissed the Eleven Tails, _you're going to alert-_

But it was too late.

"Found you," hissed Sasuke, drawing a kunai dangerously across her throat.

Fallyn sucked in her breath, all her muscles going rigid in the ninja's grasp.

She knew this man was someone to be afraid of, regardless of how many fangirls made him seem like a lovesick, docile little boy.

Clenching her eyes shut, she drew in a ragged breath to calm her nerves.

"You're going to walk down the hall with me, and you will not struggle. You will comply completely. You will not make a sound. And you will obey everything I say. Understood?" he growled, almost gleefully. The cold metal of his blade pressing into the sensitive flesh of her neck in warning, she clenched her fists and gave her head the slightest nod, worried that any more of a drastic movement would force the blade through her skin.

He began to walk down one of the halls she had just come from, and she shuffled along delicately in front of him, drawing her jugular as far back from the blade as she could bring it.

She could feel the small smirk emanating from Sasuke's body as he led her into a small room with a steel table in the center. The room was quite spacious, and several surgical implements were lined up along the walls, varying from a small scalpel to a drastically large saw that looked like it had seen its fair share of grisly, medieval amputations.

Fallyn was led directly to the table, and strapped there by leather straps that she had not noticed when she had first entered the room. Sasuke smirked down at her, pleased with himself. She glared at him with all the might her golden gaze could muster, but it only made his smirk grow in its malice.

"Orochimaru will be with you shortly," he said with a dryly amused tone.

She winced, and her gaze darkened. "Do you know what he wants?" she asked, her voice like iron.

"Yes," he said patiently, raising one thing black eyebrow.

Her brow furrowed at him, and she said after a moment's pause, "Can you tell me?"

"No."

"Didn't think so."

He shook his head, and disappeared.

Shocked, she cried, "Hey! Wait! Come back!"

Not surprisingly, there was no further sight of the raven-haired Ukiah.

Now left to herself, she envisioned the snake man entering this room, with her strapped down to a table, unable to defend herself from whatever he wanted to do.

Suddenly, she heard that same noise- snake armor was scratching at the little rocks that littered the stone floor.

Her muscles tensed, and she grunted and clenched her eyes shut. The unseen snake made its leisurely way over to her, taking its time and toying with her nerves.

Then the sound stopped.

She froze, and her eyes snapped open, her neck straining against her bonds as she tried to survey the room.

She twisted and turned, stretching the leather as far as it would go. She couldn't find any trace of a snake.

Then she felt an oily, cold, thin body twining around her feet. She stared at the ceiling, her face a mask of mortification, and slowly moved her face to her lower half.

There, with a mocking glint in its reptilian eyes, was a white snake, its scales glinting in the dim light, staring at her with malicious glee.

She drew in a sharp breath, and violently shook her leg as much as she could while they were tightly bound.

The creature only seemed to be more amused, and continued its way up her leg unhindered.

When it reached her thigh, it stopped. She stared down at it, horrified, as it opened its mouth, revealing two drastically long, pearly white fangs. Looking like it was grinning at her, it sank its fangs into her flesh, venomous liquid pouring from its teeth and into her veins.

In an instant, she was unconscious.

-X-

Having been used to summoning transportation, Pein no longer found it an unaccommodating way to travel. While the other members got a nauseating sense of vertigo, he only lost control of his body for a short amount of time.

When they arrived back at the base, a dank stone cave somewhere deep in the Hidden Rain Village, they all collapsed- Pein because of his lost signal, everyone else from nausea.

Slowly, one by one the members recovered from their traveling sickness, and left to complete their own daily routines on their non-work days.

The metal chakra receptors slowly intercepted the signals sent from Nagato, high on his mountaintop cave, and the Deva Path slowly rose from the floor with great grace. He surveyed the great cavern around him, attempting to locate the Jinchuriki.

The world stopped.

He sprinted through every cavern, investigated every crevice, tuned in to the chakra-sensing rain outside.

She was nowhere.

"Itachi!" he called, his commanding voice resonating throughout the hideout.

In an instant, the quiet man appeared in a swirl of darkness and midnight feathers.

"Sir?" he asked stoically, raising an eyebrow at his leader's disheveled expression.

"She's not here. Did you sense any interfering chakra during our travel?" His intense gaze burrowed into Itachi's apathetic one.

"Yes."

After a moment's apprehensive pause, Pein hissed, "_And_?"

"Orochimaru."

"Oh... Fuck."

Now, rarely ever did Pein use profanity to express his discontentment, but he had come _this _far, and he was _quite _displeased that _Orochimaru_, of all the people that could have intercepted their chakra transportation, was the one who wanted to screw with his plans.

_Quite _displeased.

"Do you know which base he is currently stationed at?" Pein demanded, his tone sinking into something dark and malicious- more like its usual tone.

"The northern hideout," Itachi stated in his usual bored voice.

The orange haired leader nodded sternly, and his underling took that as his dismissal. But as he was about to exit the room, the Deva Path said, "Itachi. I want you and Kisame to go re-capture her."

The other man paused, barely turning to acknowledge the comment. "Are you sure? If Sasuke's there, she'll be caught in the crossfire," he pointed out apathetically, a malicious smirk ghosting the sides of his lips.

Pein's brow knitted together dangerously, and tension crackled like lightning through the stale air of the cave.

"You're responsible for her life."

The Uchiha's fleeting smirk dissipated.

"Hn."

-X-

Fallyn awoke from a dreamless, venom-induced slumber in an area she least expected.

She was faced with the morning rays of the sun, golden light filtering through light green leaves. The soft, distant shriek of birds gently brought her back to the world of consciousness.

With startling realization, she bolted upright.

Gone were the musty golden walls, the choking clouds of dust and the smell of reptilian oil, the steel tables and mortifying metal instruments.

Gone were Orochimaru and Sasuke.

As much as she would have like to be relieved, she couldn't help but to feel something amiss.

She began to stand, but immediately fell back on the underbrush with an agonized scream. Pain lanced through her left thigh, sending spastic shockwaves through her body, the convulsions nearly making her retch.

Dry coughs scraped through her sore throat flesh, raw from her shriek. She curled up into a protective ball, cradling her injured leg to her chest. Warm blood leaked onto her shirt and soaked through in an unpleasant, sticky stream. She felt a powerful stirring inside of her, reacting to her misery but it was interrupted by the sound of a familiar person.

"Hey, did you hear that?" came a distant, severed voice from the foliage a good distance away.

"Naruto, _everyone _heard that," came the annoying, patronizing tone of a teenage girl.

"I read in a book once that a scream like that can either mean great pain or orgasm," said a third voice, unabashed and cheerful.

"_Sai!_" the two voices screamed in unison, closer now.

"What?"

They were nearly there.

Soon enough, the threesome parted the bushes not three feet from where Fallyn lay in a crumpled heap.

Sakura Haruno was the first to walk through the parted path of the shrubs, her pink hair vibrant in the mid-morning light, with never-ending vitality. She was followed by the paper-pale, socially awkward Sai, his thin midriff exposed and his Beast Scroll in hand.

Then there was the blonde haired, blue eyed protagonist himself, the dobe of all dobes, Naruto.

The vigilant blonde marched fearlessly right up to Fallyn, putting his face up to hers and inspecting her with curious, warm, sky-blue eyes. "Whoa, what happened to you?" he asked loudly and unsympathetically into her ear.

"Naruto, you _idiot_, she's injured," scolded the bubblegum-pink haired girl, who angrily shoved the vigorous boy out of the way before kneeling down next to her with a kind look in her chlorine-green eyes. "Where are you hurt?" she asked gently, helping Fallyn unfold herself from her cramped position.

She didn't need an answer though- blood flowed freely from the twin puncture marks gaping in her flesh, and a marring purple infection was spreading from the poison's entrance point.

"Oh dear," she breathed, her brow scrunching up in determination. "You need intense medical care. I can stem the bleeding for now, but we'll have to get you back to the Leaf soon, okay?"

Fallyn, the loss of blood making her weak, could only manage the slight bowing of her head as confirmation.

The female medic leaned over her thigh, and a milky green aura emanated from her outstretched hands. The pain went from dull to insistent, and a slow burn spread through her flesh. A small groan rasped through her dry throat, a sound quiet and subtle but filled with pure physical torment.

"Almost done...!" said Sakura, wincing as she felt the chakra drain from her body as she closed the wound.

"Sakura, we have to get her back to the village!" insisted Naruto, "We don't have to heal _everything_!"

The misty glow-stuffs evaporated from the medic's hands, and she clenched her be-gloved fists.

"Naruto," she began in a dangerous growl, and the blonde immediately cringed, "I'm _aware_. Now. You and Sai can carry her the entire way, how's that?"

The ivory skinned artist merely grinned in the face of his female companion's rage and stated bluntly, "I can't help but wonder if Sakura-chan's current quick temper is a result of menstruation?"

Naruto, who was in the process of hoisting Fallyn over his shoulders, cast a horrified glance over at his comrade, furiously shaking his head with vigorous urgency.

Sakura regarded the apathetic teen in tension-charged silence.

But before she could deliver some sort of judgment in the defense of her womanhood, Fallyn let out an incomprehensible groan and passed out in Naruto's arms.

"We have to get her to a medic, now!" shouted the dobe, "You two can settle what you want, I'm bringing her to the hospital!"

And with that, he launched into the trees.

-X-

Itachi and Kisame stood in front of the hidden entrance to Orochimaru's lair, Itachi staring silently at the rock and Kisame fidgeting uncomfortably, waiting for his partner to move.

"Itachi-san," the Demon Shark said after a time, "shouldn't we…go in?"

Slowly, the doll-like man turned towards him disdainfully, his endless black irises blank. "Fine," he purred standoffishly, his hand making the faintest gesture towards the boulder.

The fish man's thin lips pulled back over his needle-like teeth in a horrific smirk, and he drew his massive sword, its wait comfortable and reassuring in his hands. With a great arcing swing, he brought his Samehada down on the boulder, the force from his bone-shattering blow crumbling the rock.

The two stepped over the rubble and into the endless labyrinth.

"Orochimaru, we _know_ she's been here," hissed Kisame, the force of his bulk and the point of his sword cornering the arrogant snake man. "This place reeks of her chakra."

The pale, oily man grinned, his barely-there lips disappearing as he stretched his face muscles into the mortifying expression. "Oh, yes, of course she's been here," he said gleefully. "But I've already finished my business with her."

In a whir of feathers, Itachi had the reptilian male by his thin neck. Even when his fingers were curled around another man's throat, even when he held a man's life in the force of his grip, his face didn't portray a shred of emotion.

"While I don't usually care for the life of anybody other than myself," he growled sullenly, "this is one exception, for the mission's sake." His slender fingers tightened around the other man's jugular, and he leaned forward to whisper into the grinning snake's ear, "Where." His grip contracted. "Is." He felt the trachea of the man struggling to breathe. "She?"

Before the weasel could squeeze the rest of the oxygen from his lungs, Orochimaru's body fell in on itself, falling to the floor in a heap of writhing white snakes. They slithered between the two ninja's legs, who did nothing to stop them, and crawled over each other until they were a good distance away from the two, where they molded back together into the shape of a man.

"Oh, don't worry," he purred, his voice poisoned, festering sugar, "I didn't kill her."

He leapt onto a ledge in the cavern they were standing in, his landing echoing throughout the room.

"You could probably check in with some Leaf ninja, though. They might have an idea of her whereabouts."

He slipped into the shadows, but his disembodied voice resonated through the spacious chamber. "Itachi-kun, you might want to leave quietly, too- wouldn't want Sasuke to catch you creeping through the halls, would you?"

His cackle bounced off the walls in a cacophony of maniac laughter.

Unfazed, the Uchiha turned to his partner. "Kisame, are you sure the girl isn't in any of the other passages or rooms here?"

The blue-skinned man shook his head. "Traces of her chakra are practically floating through the air, but it's all quite stale. She's been gone for two days, at most."

"Very well then. We'll leave now."

"No, I don't think so, _Itachi_," hissed a voice from the cavern's exit.

There, standing with his sword drawn and contempt in his gaze, was Sasuke.

"You're staying right here."

Itachi's shark companion shot a subtle, nervous glance at his partner, his hand gripping the leathery hilt of his sword apprehensively.

"Ah, brother," droned the weasel, his face empty. "It is so nice to see you; and to see you so grown up."

The younger boy's hand visibly clenched around the handle of his blade, and his glare gained a maniac flash.

"I want my revenge. Fight me, and let us settle this once and for all."

A weak but meaningful smirk pulled at the corner of Itachi's full lips.

Feathers scattered in flurry of flight, and Sasuke was blinded in a cloud of dark bird-matter.

His head was gently shoved back, a motion he recognized only too well- his brother's signature forehead poke.

His older brother's silken voice shot clearly through the sound of flapping wings.

"Forgive me, Sasuke. Again, next time."

When the feathers fell and the raven could see again, both his brother and his comrade were gone.

**Ending Notes:**

**Oh god, everybody, I'm sorry AGAIN.**

**I've put my sketchbook away so I won't be tempted with DeviantART again.**

**I'm only going to be writing for the next few months.**

**Please review- I'd appreciate it greatly.**


	5. A Skirmish Between Reptiles

**Author's Notes~**

**Sorry for being late again.**

**Really. I'm being ridiculous.**

**Oh, and I wanted to warn the few of my readers that have a better set of morals- this chapter is kinda gruesome. Think **_**Elfen Lied**_**, except with Jinchuriki. Just a warning.**

**Disclaimer: As a 39 year old man writes the most popular manga in the world which encompasses some of the sexiest men in anime history, a black man with blonde hair that raps (a sure sign of a lost dream), Sasuke Uchiha (a category all his own), and rampant teen perversion, I, a simple teenage girl, can only boast Fallyn, who can only exist in the Naruto world under the proper copyright.**

**I do not own Naruto.**

Sasuke watched as his master worked on the girl.

The man's covered the grisly work he was doing, which was perfectly fine with the Uchiha. The girl's insides, to him, were meant to be kept inside, unless there was a battle, in which case he would want to personally take the pleasure of exposing her guts to sunlight.

He contemplated following her, after they had loosed her back into the forest, to see if she would lead him to Itachi. That way, she would be of some use to _him _in addition to the snake.

Interrupting his musings, Orochimaru spoke, not even glancing his way.

"Sasssuke," said the man in his oily voice, "Bring me the device."

Scowling, the black-haired teen walked over to the Sannin, averting his eyes from the shirtless, bloody girl, and handed him a small, black square.

"Thank you. Now, take the sample," he gestured to a small vial holding a pitch black, airy liquid, "and put it in number 313."

Sasuke's eyes, equally as black as the substance in the tube, darted sharply towards the dull gold of Oro's. "Are you sure that's going to be enough?" he said in hushed tones.

The snake's smirk widened.

"More than enough."

~X~

Sasuke walked silently down the halls, staring at the lazy liquid in the vial. It looked like harmless, dark smoke.

It was anything but.

He stopped in front of a flimsy wooden door, staring at the numbers crudely engraved in the material.

_313._

Shaking his head, the Raven entered the room quietly. Soft, ragged breathing echoed in the damp, hot chamber, and ethereal light came from several white-glowing candles. A small bed was bolted to the center of the floor, and thin white sheets covered the puny body of a boy.

He walked over to the child's bedside, pushing the vial into a large device that connected to the boy's body through a minuscule tube. The liquid slid down the tube leisurely, and the Uchiha watched it with morbid fascination.

He glanced down at the gaunt face of the youth, his body bound in metal, his frail limbs bruised where the steel circlets pressed too tightly against his flesh. From what little he could see, the child's skin was covered in scars and puncture wounds. His face was pained, even in sleep, like the horrors of his life awake chased him even to his dreams.

As the liquid finally leaked into the boy's bloodstream, he cracked open his sleep-crusted eyes. They were an uncannily light blue, like blue ice. The orbs darted blankly around, looking and yet not seeing, until they settled on Sasuke's face.

"B…. Big brother?" he gasped in a dry, raspy voice. He raised his arms, his hands bound my harsh cuffs, and stretched his fingers out towards the Raven's face. "Big brother, it's been so long since you last visited me. I'm… so happy… to see you again!" He fell into a fit of coughs.

Sasuke winced, and forced a weak, fleeting smile. Pushing the boy's arms gently back down, he brushed the scraggly white hair from his face. "Hello, little brother," he said softly. "I have been very busy. I'm sorry I have not visited you."

With a quick glance at the tube, he realized that the majority of the liquid was already inside the little boy. He looked back, and said softly, "Now, little brother, this will be one of your last tests. After this, you might finally be able to come and see Momma again."

He hated lying to him.

The boy's vacant, icy eyes lit up, and his chapped lips cracked open into a wide smile. Sasuke made his own unpracticed facial muscles twitch upward, but it took all his effort to hide his pained expression when the boy's splitting white lips stained themselves red.

Saving himself the agony, the Uchiha looked for the final time at the tube. The last of the sluggish fluid trickled into the body of the frail boy.

"Now, little brother, it's time for the test to begin."

And with a deep shriek, black tendrils erupted form the boy, and the snap of metal rivaled the sound of his scream.

As everything crumbled around him, Sasuke watched as a small black dragon flew away.

~X~

Fallyn opened her heavy eyes to the plasma-glowing lights of a blaringly white hospital room.

Her forearms weak, she could barely prop herself up on her elbows to survey the room. It was barren, the only furnishings a steel-rimmed bed with an uncomfortable ivory mattress and a pitiful bedside table. On that table, she saw to her horror, was an operating tray with poison-purple liquid caked on the disgusting tools arranged on it.

Immediately, she pushed herself farther up, straining to catch a glimpse of her snake-bit thigh.

It was then that she noticed the box under her bed, subtly beeping and whirring, ten or so plastic tubes reaching their healing fingers up towards her.

She hated hospitals.

In one quick, awkward movement, since her poisoned leg was dead weight from the anesthesia, she yanked the tubes from their various entrance points, letting medicinal fluids pool on the sheets. Hauling herself from the bed, she staggered drunkenly over toward the cool metal door, limping slightly, and tugged with all her might.

The door slid open without a sound, and Fallyn crept out into the silent, white hallway. Her bare feet stuck slightly to the clean linoleum floors, but the sound was practically inaudible. Not knowing where to go, she slipped down the hall to a window, shaded to keep out the morning light. She tugged the corner of the cloth, the harsh sunlight burning her drug-dilated pupils.

The window was barred.

Muttering a quiet curse under her breath, she turned back down the ivory passage, beginning the long, limping journey to the other end of the hall.

She was halfway down when she heard the soft shushing sound of wet feet, coming right towards her.

Ducking behind the open door of an empty room as fast as she could manage, Fallyn held her breath, her eyes clenched shut, willing her presence to be hidden from the very plane of existence. With her ears ringing, she listened to each step that reverberated down the hall, increasing in volume with a deafening crescendo as the person got closer.

The footsteps stopped for a moment, and she heard the faint rustle of cloth, a sigh, and the footsteps resumed. Eventually, they disappeared around the corner, and went on until she could hear them no longer.

Fallyn breathed for the first time in what had to have been at least a minute, the oxygen soothing her burning lungs. She took a moment to get her respiration back to its normal patterns before creeping out from behind the door.

Glancing from the corner of the doorjamb, she scanned the hall. Nothing seemed to have changed.

She almost missed the prints on the floor.

Small footprints, the size of that of a young child, were leading in an evenly spaced trail down to the unexplored end of the hallway.

The footprints were bloody, and scarlet drops spattered everywhere. The white handle of the white door at the end of the white hall was stained with lifeblood.

Suddenly, several crashes and thuds came from the blank barrier at the end of the hall. The splash of spilled liquids startled her.

Before she could register a logical plan, she found herself following the trail, red fluid sticking to her hand as she turned the doorknob.

She was blinded, not by light, but by darkness. As the door closed behind her with an ear-splitting crash, she found herself in complete and utter blackness. Now frightened, she felt the intense pressure of fear upon her breast, her heart aching with a pain that she never before associated with the utter petrification she felt at that moment.

A low, nearly inaudibly hissing noise was the first thing she heard after the fear unclogged her hearing.

Shuffling forward, her senses on high, she groped through empty air for some solid surface for which to guide herself. Her feet slipped through puddles of unidentified, lukewarm liquid whose contents she was terrified to identify. Her palms happened upon a chain hanging from above, and she grasped it surely, tugging on it with such ferocity that it almost snapped.

A bright light, more intense than the fluorescent bulbs in the previous hall, illuminated a small room.

Computers, lab tables, beakers, syringes, and all other usual medical supplies was scattered haphazardly across the floor or hanging precariously from several surfaces.

Computers began to hum, a high, mechanical noise that nearly matched the pitch of Fallyn's scream.

Blood was oozing down every available surface. It spattered across the screens of every machine, dyed lab coats that hung from hooks, fell into deep puddles that was like a marsh on the ivory-tiled floor.

Amid the broken glass and no longer sterile needles, several bodies of nurses and doctors hung limply from chairs or stared blankly up from amid the debris.

There was one clean path leading right in the middle of the carnage, bloody footprints left neatly in the center, walking towards an open window.

Fallyn crumpled, broken glass cutting into her knees, and another guttural wail erupted from deep within her throat, this one almost animal in likeness.

She screeched once more, like a dying beast, and great shudders wracked her fragile form. Bubbles thick as pitch floated from her pores, enveloping her in a black cloak. Her eyes glowed golden, her body falling to all fours like a dangerous, aggravated animal. Four tails of the same consistency as the rest of the cloud around her pushed from behind, whipping and lashing, dealing a second hand of death to the corpses around her and annihilating the the room. Long horns grew from the veil, slender and sharp, if partially insubstantial.

With another roar, the dragon-girl leaped from the fourth story of the hospital, great black wings spreading with snaps and cracks as if they had gone unused for years. The thing glided over the city, a dark cloud following the aura of another recently gone. It soared around the buildings, following the trail up to a large mountain on which heads had been carved into the stone.

There, upon a spiky-haired male bust, was a small half-beast, a mini version of the large reptilian human converging on it with great speed. The small creature roared and launched itself headlong at it's bigger twin, setting itself on a quick collision course.

An explosion shook the city as the two beasts collided, the ground itself shaking with the force of their crash. People who had not been observing the massive dragon-thing flying over their town now ran from their homes, screaming, and hurrying for the gates of the place. Ninja overestimating their courage rallied squadrons and made for the battling creatures.

Meanwhile, the two were warring, the larger obviously defeating the other. It held the small animal down against the stone, one claw held at the thing's throat, growling into its face.

Before it could end the mini dragon's life, a volley of explosive tags launched at the dragon-girl. It barely knocked her off her feet, and she begrudgingly left her prey for the amusement of torturing the little humans. With an awe-inspiring jet of monochrome flame, she sent the men and women running as their clothes blistered and burned the flesh from their bodies. Swooping down lower into the streets of the city, her tails sweeping low behind her, she took out numerous sprinting civilians, feeling their small, soft bodies crush beneath the weight and power of her tails.

She was quite enjoying herself, and didn't notice the small dragon-beast coming up behind her until it's small claws had embedded themselves into the chakra cloak around her small human body. With another deafening shriek, she bucked, kicked, scratched, roared, and flicked her tails this way and that, desperately trying to dislodge the bothersome creature from her neck. The thing held on with a vise-like grip, keeping its position for the sake of its life.

She ascended in a deep vertical swoop, her great wings beating the air and pushing her farther and farther up into the atmosphere. Humans below stopped their retreat, seeing that the immediate threat had been removed, and stared up at the clouds to watch the spectacle.

They began to run again once the massive dragon turned back towards the surface and took a nosedive straight at them.

Not many dodged the impact. At the last second, the larger dragon veered upwards, and crushed the small beast under the weight of its body.

The airy limbs of the smaller dragon dissipated from under the force of the larger, and only small, frail, bruised limbs were left. The she-beast stood with dignity and glared down at the remains of the tiny cretin- simply a boy, no older than eight, with scruffy, blindingly white hair and a skeletal body structure. She roared in victory, and then she, too, crumpled into the body of a teen girl again.

The shriek of the dragon echoed through the empty streets.

~X~

Itachi and Kisame watched as the two beasts battled high over Konoha from high on a roof of a restaurant on the outskirts of the town. Chaos was underfoot as thousands of the great Leaf's citizens fled their beloved homes, filling the streets in a thick river of fear. Ninja hopped from rooftop to rooftop, directing the screaming people to the nearest exit, and at a loss for anything else to do but watch and wait until the creatures tired themselves out or killed each other.

The larger dragon, which Itachi deduced was the Jinchuriki, began to fly erratically as the smaller, a mini replica of the original (whose identity Itachi couldn't fathom), latched onto her back. She began to take a dive, and the two Akatsuki knew the time was coming for them to react and get their charge as soon as possible.

When she crashed into the earth, the pair shot off towards the landing site.

~X~

From the other side of the village, Sasuke watched the same sight, all too aware of the presence of his older brother. But right then, all he was supposed to do was recapture 313.

He watched apprehensively as the Jinchuriki shoved the boy-dragon forcefully into the earth, straining his ears for a cry or the sound of snapping bones.

All he heard was a soft hiss as the midnight chakra evaporated into useless clouds.

He rashly started for the boy.

~X~

Two bodies lay on top of each other, scorching hot, with most of their clothes and parts of their flesh burned and gone.

The boy, not wearing much to begin with, kept only a thoroughly burned and tattered pair of loose pants that cut off at his knees on him.

The girl remained in the scraps of a small, crispy shirt, and her pants had been burned to scandalously short shorts.

Both sported scrapes and burns, and their bodies were covered in blood and ash.

That's how both the Akatsuki duo and Sasuke found them.

The younger Uchiha eyed his brother warily, and said brother regarded him with a cool look. Kisame watched them with an uncomfortable expression on his face.

Sasuke was the one to break the stare. "Brother, I am not here to fight you this time." He gestured to the boy, who was sprawled under Fallyn. "He is mine, and I just want to reclaim him."

"And she ours," Itachi responded evenly.

The Raven walked briskly forward, his eyes never leaving his brother, who also came towards him. The Weasel lifted the light body of the girl, and Sasuke gathered the delicate boy in his arms. Without another word, he took off.

Itachi, unfazed, returned to the side of his partner, and gently handed the Jinchuriki to the large shark-man.

"Let's return before Pein blows a fuse," grinned Kisame, making a vain effort to lighten the heavy mood, "And before the Leaf ninja come scoping the area."

The Weasel watched expressionlessly as his brother leaped over the tall walls of Konoha, the boy cradled in his arms.

"Let's."

**Ending Notes:**

**I can't even begin to apologize.**

**I don't think anything I say will suffice to express how sorry I am for completely ignoring FanFiction without so much as a warning.**

**I hope people haven't given up on this yet…**


	6. IMPORANT NOTICE! PLEASE READ!

**PLEASE READ!**

**I'm very, very, very sorry, everyone. I've been kind of awful.**

**You see, my obsession with Naruto has faded. However, I've recently decided to rewrite Eleven Tails for the last time. I will type EVERYTHING out beforehand, and then update each chapter once or twice a week. That way, I will finally be finished.**

**If some are still interested in this story, you deserve a freaking award.**

**I'll try to keep people updated.**

**Thank you.**


	7. Look here, my children

**For doodles and other endorsements for Eleven Tails, go to FallynXRai on DeviantArt.**


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